By Alexis Russell

09/30/2008

             It was released recently that Ultimate Bet poker was involved in the largest cheating scandal to date.  An in depth investigation has been underway and is finally starting to reveal some answers.   It was hypothesized that the cheating ring went high on the totem pole of poker but no one was expecting it to involve a WSOP bracelet winner.

            The Kahnawake Gaming Commission who owns and operates UltimateBet.com is now releasing information from their on-going investigation into a cheating scandal that cheated players out of an estimated $60 million over the course of several years.  The internal audit is shining light not only on the Ultimate Bet scandal but the Absolute Poker scandal as well.

            The findings so far are pointing the blame at one individual in particular, Russ Hamilton.  Hamilton has had poker tournament success in the past, winning a WSOP event which helped lead to his becoming a part of Ultimate Bet’s affiliate program.  He now joins Allan Grimard as a key suspect in the case.  Grimard also had past ties with the poker room serving as a “consultant” at Absolute Poker.

            If either thinks they’ll get help or sympathy from the poker rooms they were once associated with they’d be dead wrong.  Ultimate Bet has already had to pay an $8 million dollar fine on top of having the reimburse players who were cheated out of their hard earned cash.  The Kahnawake Gaming Commission has stated that they will do all they can to help the prosecutors in their investigation.  They’ve also started cleaning house and have already begun ridding themselves of employees at all levels that they feel are “unsuitable” to stay with the company.